No struggles over allowances and chores. No tantrums and whinefests about instantaneously CRUCIAL toys. No endless sermons about the injustice of unsatisfied whims. No ingratitude about carefully selected gifts.

I'm really lucky that so far my kids are content with the "You can look at it while we're in the store, but we're putting it back before we leave" rule. I don't think it'll last much longer, though.

i am so hanging on to this for dear life. i am also teaching blasto the importance of being duped by the man. when he sees something and asks me about it i tell him "that thing isn't really that awesome. they just want you to spend your money. better save it so you can put momma in a first rate old fogie home when she gets too fiesty."

I'm really lucky that so far my kids are content with the "You can look at it while we're in the store, but we're putting it back before we leave" rule. I don't think it'll last much longer, though.

Silas is like this too. Sometimes he'll do this pitiful thing where he'll hug a toy and stick his lip out at me, but gives up easily still. Shae was perfect until a few years ago, would never ask for anything. Then some idiot (fine, it was me) told him that you can't get what you want unless you ask for it! I was talking about doing a speech at a school event, he decided to apply it to all aspects of life. Got real old real fast. He was fine when we said no, but he STILL asks for junk all the time. He knows he has to earn money to buy extra stuff so he goes straight into negotiations. Annoying.

No struggles over allowances and chores. No tantrums and whinefests about instantaneously CRUCIAL toys. No endless sermons about the injustice of unsatisfied whims. No ingratitude about carefully selected gifts.

I'm telling you, it sounds like heaven.

Back to the caves! Back to the trees! Come with me!

Yes! YES! Beetroot is 3.5 and has just started wanting things. (I'm sure this is from watching TV, but if I don't let him watch TV sometimes, I can't sneak off to the kitchen and make food for us to eat because he & Raygold will follow me in and proceed to tear the place apart.) Fortunately, he is still distractable and usually just asks me for random things and is fine when I say, "we don't have that!" But when we were in the Post Office the other day and he asked for building blocks, I was all, "tough shiitake," and, "get used to dissappointment, kid." on him. (Meanwhile, an exasperated mom bought her wee toddler a toy to thwart a tantrum.)

Raygold is 18 months old and is still happy playing with spoons and wee empty pots (like the container that held my eye make-up remover wipes). Just don't take the spoon away or you will face his toddlerous wrath.

I was very lucky when my son was small because he hardly ever whined or threw tantrums over wanting a toy. Some of that was just his personality, but I think he also understood that we didn't have much money at the time. He didn't really ask for much until he was a teenager, and then it was all about computer stuff. I was better off money-wise by then, and was happy to buy barebones kits and related parts for him to build computers. I took an interest in it also, so this was something we could share.

I don't know what my point was, but I feel for parents who have to deal with what feels like incessant demands for the latest shiny thing. Even when you know that saying no or expecting a child to earn what they ask for through an allowance is the right thing to do, it doesn't make it easy.